Chapter 3: Strangers Of The Past

"Wandering Gosu found himself lost in the darkness. Despite being unable to see anything, he continued to run, as if he were trying to catch up with someone. Suddenly, he saw a silhouette of light in the distance, which became clearer as he approached.

The source of the light was a young man wearing a school uniform. Although his face was filled with despair, he managed to smile warmly and spoke softly, "Thank you, please take care of my mother..."

Before Wandering Gosu could say anything, the young man vanished into the darkness, waking him up from his dream.

'A farewell?' Wandering Gosu thought to himself. This must have been Leanne in his dream, and it seemed that the previous owner of this body had said goodbye. Leanne must have passed away, and now Wandering Gosu was the new owner of this body.

As Wandering Gosu realized he was still lying on the floor, he checked his phone and saw that it was past 10 PM. He stood up, feeling a sharp pain in his body, and removed his clothing to examine himself in the mirror. He was shocked to see numerous cuts and bruises, some of which looked like they had been there for a week or two.

His stomach began to grumble from hunger, and he realized that the only food in the fridge was a carton of milk and two eggs. Without hesitation, he ate the eggs, shells and all, and washed it down with the milk.

"Although he was still hungry, the food he had eaten was enough to replenish the energy he had lost from forcing himself to use his internal energy. He curled into a fetal position and opened his dantian, only to find that his qi vessels were tangled.

'No wonder this kid was so undeveloped,' Leanne thought, 'His dantian is such a mess. It'll be difficult for this body to become a martial artist, but lucky for me, I was born with a similar body.'

Leanne smiled and began fixing his dantian. He circulated his qi and repaired the pathways along the way, using a circulation technique he created himself. The efficiency of his recovery quadrupled, as this new body was very similar to his old one.

Leanne wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he guessed it was at least a day or two. When he finished repairing his dantian, he was pleased to see that his core had doubled in size and he had accumulated enough energy to perform basic martial arts techniques.

'If I used the demonic qi circulation method, I'd get three times the result, but I don't think this body can handle it yet,' Leanne thought. 'For now, I'll stick with the unorthodox method.'

Leanne checked his surroundings and realized that his clothes had become dirty and his tile floor had lost its vibrancy due to the toxic waste that had come out of his body.

'Well, that's 18 years' worth of impure qi that just came out of me. I should have expected that much.' Leanne shrugged and stood up. Despite not eating for days, he felt lively and energetic. When he looked at his naked figure in the mirror, he was satisfied with his appearance.

He had become thin, but his muscles were refined and polished. With some bulking up and consistent working out for a few months, he could regain his chiseled figure, although it would never be comparable to his previous "Greek god" appearance. Still, as long as he could regain his lost martial powers, he could potentially conquer this world, but he had no reason to do so.

"That would be such a waste of a second life." Leanne laughed at himself. He then took a long warm bath and afterwards checked his phone and was immediately surprised by the number of missed messages, calls, and notifications. The majority of the missed calls and messages came from his mother who was worried sick about him. The notifications were emails from the school, informing him about missing his preliminary exams. He realized that three weeks had already passed.

"Let's call Mom first." Leanne called his mother, and she answered almost immediately. From the look on her face, Leanne could tell that she was both worried and relieved to see her son.

"Son! Do you know how worried I was? Why didn't you answer my calls?"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I got busy with school and stuff."

"Really? You couldn't even just tell me that you were busy?"

"I lost my phone and couldn't call you."

"That's your excuse? Son, I'm your mother. I know when you're lying. And look at you, you're so thin! You're starving yourself! Have you been eating properly?"

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm doing fine. Anyway, Mom, I have to go to school now. I'll call you later."

"Sigh, okay, son. Take care of yourself, please. I transferred 15k PHP to your bank account. Use that money to buy groceries and pay for your preliminary exams. I love you, honey."

"Love you too, Mom."

Leanne ended the call and couldn't help but smile. This was the first time he felt this way, to think that there was a person who would give him unconditional love without asking for anything in return. That was something that never existed in his previous world, or at least not in his experience.

"So this is what it feels like to be given genuine love. To think that this kid was so lucky to have such a loving mother. Don't worry, kid. I'll protect him."

He remembered the young man's words from his dreams. His mother was someone to be protected at all costs, and to do that, he needed to be stronger. Although he felt confident in his ability to protect himself, he still wasn't strong enough to protect those he loved.

"I guess it's time to head back to school," Leanne thought to himself.

He changed into his school uniform and headed out, stopping by a convenience store to grab some food on the way. He bought three pieces of fried chicken and gobbled them down in just a few minutes, shocking the people around him who watched in disbelief.

"Wow! Fried chicken has never tasted so good!" Leanne exclaimed to himself.

He went back to buy three more pieces and then bought a carbonated drink he had never tried before. It was the sweetest and tastiest drink he had ever tasted, and he knew he wanted to try more of the dishes this "magical store" had to offer.

However, he was stopped by the store guard when he realized he hadn't paid for his purchases. Leanne quickly checked his wallet and found a red card, which he believed to be the credit card his mother gave him.

"Here you go," he said, handing the card to the cashier. The transaction was complete and the card was returned to Leanne. He was amazed at how easy transactions were in this world. In his time, he had to carry a sack of gold coins, which was heavy and uncomfortable.

Leanne ran to the school, arriving to find all eyes on him. This time, the gaze was not one of disgust or shame, but rather shock and fear.

"It's Leanne! Holy crap, he's back!"

"The fighting committee has been looking for him, and I heard they're trying to recruit him." "Really? I thought they were going to seek revenge."

"Me too! But having another martial artist on their roster is better than having him as an enemy." "Look at him, he's so thin, but I think he's gotten taller and more muscular."

"Definitely! He's even more handsome now. What the hell did he do in the past few weeks?"

The students' murmurs grew louder, until the professor silenced them and called Leanne to the Dean's Office. Upon arriving, the teacher immediately scolded him.

"Where the hell have you been? I heard you fought the Fighting Committee members and what happened to you? You look so thin."

"I'm sorry for being gone for so long. I heard I missed the preliminaries. What can I do to take the exams?"

"It's too late. The final grades for the preliminaries have already been released, and you've failed. However, there's good news. You're exempt from the assessment test and will have a chance to retake the preliminary exams if you join the Fighting Committee. I heard they've been looking for you and want to recruit you. If you go now, I'm sure they'll accept you without any questions. Everyone in the school has seen your fight with the members, and I have to say, I'm proud of you. You stood up to your bullies and even defeated them! It turns out you're a martial artist!"

The professor praised Leanne a lot and started talking about himself, mentioning how he wanted to be a martial artist but ended up becoming an IT professor instead. Leanne was so caught up in the professor's words that he didn't realize his fight had gone viral all over the school, which was why the Fighting Committee wanted to recruit him instead of seeking revenge.

'Shit, I have to become a member of the Fighting Committee or I'll fail this school year.' Leanne felt irritated. In his mind, the Fighting Committee was like those orthodox sects that act righteously in public but act like the demonic members of the unorthodox sects in private.

All his life, Leanne had been a lone wolf, which is why he was known as the Wandering Gosu. Nothing could restrict him, not even a powerful group or a beautiful place. His drive to explore the unknown was limitless.

'I don't have a choice, do I?' Leanne stood up and left the office, leaving the still-blabbering professor behind. He didn't even realize that Leanne had walked out the door. Leanne arrived at a giant dome, the size of a gymnasium, and when he entered, he was greeted by a huge area of training facilities with hundreds of students training and sparring. When he closed the door and stepped inside, all eyes were on him.

"It's Leanne... It's that kid who beat up our members."

"Why is he here?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's here for revenge. Our reputation is already bad, and he has to make it worse now?"

The students started avoiding him, not only because they were afraid of him but also because they felt like he was a bad omen. As soon as the video was uploaded on the internet, it went viral, not only among the neighboring universities but also throughout the nation.

This caused negative backlash for the Fighting Committee and made Leanne a hero in the eyes of many. Of course, Leanne was unaware of this as he was isolated in his room, but even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

Soon after, a door opened in a specific room and a giant 6'10" Caucasian man appeared. He had just come from a sauna and was sweating, wearing only a small towel that covered his groin and buttocks. He walked towards Leanne, exuding an aura like a giant bear.

"This guy reminds me of the Bandit King"

Leanne stared at the Caucasian man and couldn't help but recall his past. The man was none other than Natanniel Jacobs, the president of the Fighting Committee. He was one of the most famous students in the school and the representative of the school in every martial arts tournament held annually. His face was plastered all over the University, making it impossible not to notice him.

The two men began a staring contest, and all the students watched in curiosity, hoping for something exciting to happen. Suddenly, Natanniel raised his right hand and slowly moved it towards Leanne. To everyone's surprise, he placed his hand on Leanne's shoulder and smiled.

"I assume you're here to join us, right?" Natanniel asked. "I heard you failed your preliminary exams, and the only way to retake them is by becoming a committee member."

"How do you know that?" Leanne asked, taken aback.

"I research students with promising talent, and you're no exception," Natanniel explained. "Unfortunately, recruitments for freshmen ended a week ago. But good news, you're an exception if you know what I mean." He gave Leanne a sly wink and walked towards his locker room to change.

"Why are you doing this?" Leanne asked, following him. "You know I just beat up your members and made your reputation a laughing stock. Why would you still allow me to join the committee?"

Leanne's question was valid, and the members of the committee agreed. They couldn't understand why Natanniel would allow the person who had humiliated them to join their ranks.

Natanniel stopped and spoke, "It's true that you made us look bad. You have no idea how much humiliation I had to endure to fix our image. I really wanted to strangle you, but it was also thanks to you that I realized that the Fighting Committee had become an embarrassment. We were no longer guardians of the school, but instead, thugs who abused their powers. Do you see any of your bullies here now? No, right? Well, I removed them from the committee, including the Vice President, who was the biggest thug of them all. I was foolish to think that I was recruiting promising members who would make our University proud, but in fact, they were breaking the brilliance that our University once had. I was blinded by my own beliefs, but now I have decided to strip them of the power they don't deserve. From the previous one thousand members, we're now down to 400, and the Vice President's spot is currently vacant. I think you'd be a good candidate for it."

Natanniel grinned, feeling proud of what he had done, but everyone was surprised and wanted to object to his decision.

"Boss! Isn't the Vice President position only for third and fourth-year students?" one member asked. "Why are you giving it to a freshman?"

"Yeah, boss! That's just unfair!" another chimed in. "We're not even sure if this kid is worthy of that seat! Why don't you give it to Julius John, who's the third-strongest martial artist in this school after Kyle Ecchari?"

"Hush!" Natanniel interjected. "Nobody dares to speak a single word about that bastard! There's never been a written rule about the requirements for being the Vice President. As long as you're strong and worthy, you can fight for the position. The world is harsh; the strong will always be revered while the weak are to be sympathized."

Leanne nodded in agreement with Natanniel's words. He was reminded of his previous world where strength was everything. If you weren't strong enough to protect yourself, you would be vulnerable and unable to succeed.

"This guy really reminds me a lot of Bandit King," thought Leanne. "They even have the same ideologies." Leanne remembered his time with the Bandit King, who was one of the most powerful martial artists he had ever encountered. They had clashed a few times and Leanne held him in high respect as one of the best leaders he had met on the battlefield.

"But of course, I won't just give the position to anyone," said Natanniel with pride as he puffed out his chest.

"They must prove themselves worthy by sparring with me." The students who had earlier complained found Natanniel's reasoning to be fair.

"He really is like Bandit King," thought Leanne.

"So, do you want to spar with me for the position of vice president, or do you want to go through the regular recruitment process?" asked Natanniel.

"I'll spar with you," replied Leanne with a smile. He wanted to test his own abilities in this body and fighting against someone as strong as Natanniel was the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Don't regret your decision," warned Natanniel.